Natural Selection 2

Fight for control of a derelict biological research facility in this brand new map for Natural Selection 2! Created by the NS2 Community Development Team, Derelict features bespoke environment art and a unique play style.

Derelict is available now on Steam, and is free for all NS2 players. The update also includes numerous improvements to NS2, including bug fixes and performance enhancements. A comprehensive run-through of all changes made in the Derelict Update is available on the NS2 blog.

You can now choose your own main menu background and music from the options settings!

**All main menu levels have had an optimization pass to reduce file size in order to increase the speed at which the main menu loads.

Performance

NS2 is now being compiled using Microsoft Visual Studio 2013, an upgrade from VS2005. From our testing, some users may gain an improvement of increased fps. The following are other optimizations:

Avoid certain health/armor predictions on client
Use fieldwatching to avoid some OnUpdate calculations
Linux: use FixPathCase only if file is not found.
Implemented filesystem cache to avoid file-lookup penalty for mods.
Improved GUIMinimap performance.
Improved performance of many GUIScripts.
Alien hivesight related LOS-checking was being done even for Marine players, where it is irrelevant.
Alien players are now always shown with Hive-Sight outlines, even when in LOS.
Changed Scoreboard data to only update twice per second instead of once per frame.
Cache OnosDirtEffectGeneration.
Improved Onos camera shaking code
Added caching surface beneath players, prevents additional traces for footstep sounds.

Bug Fixes

Fixed tons of code and libraries issues preventing the NS2 project to get compiled under VS 2013 (should also make NS2 more stable)
Fixed first person spectating causing hitching movement to other players.
Fixed that the server wasn’t necessarily using the same snapshot as the client when the client was extrapolating positions. (Other issues with hitreg will be getting fixed in upcoming patches!)
Fixed cursor not centering properly in Fullscreen Windowed mode.
Reject attempts to load resources using empty strings.
MapCycle now automatically cycles to next map if the attempt to load a map fails.
Detects that a map change failed and cycle to next map.
The restriction that map mods had to be on the filesystem to be cycled to has been remove; the map mod will be downloaded if not present before being cycled to.
Replaced hardcoded keys for spectator drawing with:
Secondary Attack: Draw on the screen.
Reload: Clear the screen.
Bile bombs and gorge spit are now client side predicted.
Gorge Tunnels can now be exited at any height in the tunnel.
Fixed that Hive time-outs caused the “forceventeams”-vote to fail.
Fixed that cached Hive data were not applied correctly onto reconnecting players.
Fixed that the PAX badge was not applied on players who don’t have any Hive badges.
Fixed that it was not possible to disable the team auto-balancer.
Fixed Medpacks/Ammo/Catpacks not showing the pickup icons.
Fixed bug where Loading screen wouldn’t use custom map backgrounds and made it scale with resolution.
Fixed that mod downloading via the web admin interface did not work.
Fixed Insight displaying Health for exos (they only use Armor).
Fixed jetpacks left behind by dead marines not dissolving with the body on death.
Fixed damage numbers and private sounds being sent to the original owner for MACs, Drifters, Whips, ARCs and Sentries. They are now sent to the current Commander.
Old mods are now deleted 24 hours after new versions have been downloaded (kept around for a while just in case you want to play on a server that haven’t upgraded yet).
Fixed that the Swedish translation wasn’t using the correct file.
Fixed various crash issues of the Overview.exe.
Added the latest patches from LuaJIT hopefully increasing the performance and stability of NS2 as well
Fixed a script error with LayMines.
Fixed a script error appearing sometimes when you tried to vote.
Added a blank model check for dynamic props so to stop crashing the client.
Added sanity checks to avoid client crashes from any kind of corrupted texture files
Made net_loss a cheat command so people can’t use it to cheat anymore
Added consistency checking for hmp files.
Fixed embryos not having a taunt causing assert errors.
Fixed sending blank chat messages causing messages to overlap
Fixed being able to place an IP in eclipse where you shouldn’t be able to
Auto deactivate mods on patch release
Fixed menu being unresponsive if mousing over webview while a window was loading
Fix highlighting of view models
sv_tests console command added. This allows server admins to give certain people access to the command.
Fixed error for Gorge Tunnel Enter/Exit screen FX preventing liquid effects from playing

Tweaks

Added remaining cannister ammo on the display for the flamethrower
Lowered opacity for red colored low ammo warning on weapon displays.
Chat now displays tags before the player names for Rookies and Commanders.
Replaced the Reinforcement label in the Main Menu with a label linking to the CDT Trello page
Added the Serbian translation
Lowered the opacity of the tv_glare texture in the main menu so it distracts less from the menu background
You can now change the used gamma correction value in the option menu. This allows you to adjust the brightness of ns2 overall. The default is 2.2 (even though it is not the center of the slider)
Removed consistency checking for the screens folder. You can now have custom loading screens by putting jpg files inside a screens/custom folder.
Removed consistency checking for models/marnie/male/flashlight.dds. You can now have custom flashlight textures
Added a separate bind for movement override for commander
TOOLS

Fixed scoreboard hiding the GUIHoverMenu every frame as long as the scoreboard wasn’t up.
Introduce FieldWatcher, a way for a client to detect that a network field changes.
Introduce a way for GUIScripts to run at less than full fps (set self.updateInterval).
Improve AddTimedCallback to give you time since last callback, return time to next callback.
Added MapChangeFailed Event Hook.
Fixed console commands passed on the command line failing to run because they were running in the loading world.
Added new server admin console command “sv_installmod <modid>” to download the given mod to the server.
New command “hud_rate <mul>”: specify a multiplier for the hud update rate (impacts fps)
Decals also load now in cinematics
Added propnames development console command to show names of nearby props while in game
Known Issues:

We are aware of some render distance issues with the Editor, this will be fixed in 276.

Show us your rig

Each week on
Show Us Your Rig, we feature PC gaming's best and brightest as they show us the systems they use to work and play.

Hugh Jeremy works at Unknown Worlds—best known for Natural Selection 2, Future Perfect, and Subnautica—and he's got a rig cholk-full of water cooling. As Hugh explains below, the components of this powerful PC were originally in a case he custom built, which is unfortunately not very portable. Hugh was kind enough to show us his impressive setup and tell us about some of his favorite parts of PC gaming.

What's in your PC?

Intel i7-5820k @ 4Ghz

32GB of DDR4 RAM

GTX 980

6Tb spinning disk storage

1Tb solid state storage

EK CPU block

Swiftech 320mm radiator

EK 5.25in bay reservoir

Laing D5 w/ EK top

Laing DDC w/ EK top

X99 board

AX1200i PSU

4-bank fan controller

About 1.5 litres of water

All of that feeds an Asus 2560 x 1440 screen at the magical 144hz.

There's also a Razer Blade & Macbook Pro 13 sitting here. I'm in the process of transferring from the former to the latter. Blasphemy, I know. From a parts perspective the i7 5557U in the Macbook is a really interesting little package. It's also pulling 1.1Gb/s read/write off the SSD, so credit to Apple where it's due.

What's the most interesting/unique part of your setup?

Custom Case

Click the arrows to expand.

This machine is a bit weird, because it's derived from parts transferred from a custom water-cooling focused case I built out of aluminium and tears. At Unknown Worlds, we have a lot of freedom to work wherever we want on the planet. I was using my custom case in the San Francisco office, but at the moment I am working in Australia. I couldn't transfer the rig across the Pacific, disassembling it takes days, reassembling it takes days. So for now many of the parts live on in this Corsair case until I've got the guts to break out the power tools again and give them a proper home. The itch is growing.

What's always within arm's reach on your desk?

At the moment Statistical Analysis by Ya-lun Chou. It's not as boring as it sounds. Crunching data can help make better development decisions, and better games. For example, at Unknown Worlds we collect vast amounts of anonymous data about Subnautica's performance in the wild. From that data, we can work out what we're doing badly. For example, we were able to precisely measure out-of-memory crash prevalence, see that it was affecting large number of players, and devote the resources necessary to remedy it.

Recently we worked out that 20%+ of Subnautica customers were trying to play with GPUs below min-spec, so now we're doing a better job of communicating min-spec, and assisting customers who don't meet it by providing information about GPU upgrades and so on. Chou makes sure I don't spout statistical lies.

What are you playing right now?

My Steam favourites list currently features Future Perfect, DayZ, Kerbal Space Program, Maia, Natural Selection 2, and Subnautica. A lot of these games aren't finished, or were available initially in a very unfinished state. I think this is one of the most exciting parts of PC gaming. We can be part of and influence the creative process.

What's your favorite game and why?

Right now, my favourite game is
Future Perfect. It's another Unknown Worlds game. I'm not trying to plug it though, I'm being genuine. I don't get time to play it much, and it's at a very early stage. But there is just so much potential. It neatly captures the strengths of PC gaming—access to unfinished games, iteration on those games, modding, openness.

It's common knowledge that Natural Selection 2 has no bugs, issues, or problems.* It has never had any bugs. Ever. Fact. Full stop. Ok, maybe a few... And maybe Update 273 had a few too many. Some say that Onoses (Onii? Onosii?) were very upset by seriousr problems with their damage type.

Never fear though, Update 274 has arrived quickly from the Community Development Team, and it addresses some major issues that crept into the game in 273! Enjoy!

Natural Selection 2 has just received its first update for 2015, courtesy of the Community Development Team. Read all the details in their release blog post!

Changelog

ImprovementAdded ability to click on a player’s row in the scoreboard to check their Steam/Hive profiles
Added option to mute Text chat
Added icon to the scoreboard indicating if someone is your friend on Steam
Made it so the scoreboard shortens the player name if it overlaps
Muting a player’s voice/text chat will last 6 hours so it’s persistent across map changes
Rookies will always show the “(rookie)” tag in chat even if they’re not in your own team
Spectators are now sorted above ReadyRoom players
Dropping structures as a Marine Commander will display the location name and status of the Power Node for the structure
Missing files will now show up in the log instead of being silently ignored
Added a new variant of Alien Vision based on Huzes’ AV – Thanks Huze!
Added no_ip material which disallows placement of Infantry Portals on this surface
Added a separate bind for movement override for commander
Added consistency checking for hmp files

FixesStop sounds from playing on destroyed entities
Stop Insert from running destructors on uninitialized memory
Linux should now support non-ascii
Fixed being able to tell who’s the enemy Commander by their chat color
Fixed that commanders bots did not work or got kicked by the AFK kick
Fixed that the Alien Buy-Menu messed up with some translations (e.g. Russian)
Fixed embryos not having a taunt in the ready room
Fixed Babblers being invisible when cloaked by a shade
Fixed menu being unresponsive if mousing over webview while a window was loading
Fixed sending blank chat messages causing messages to overlap
Fixed being able to place an IP in eclipse where you shouldn’t be able to

SteamPrototype – Added Utils\WorkshopBackup, a simple server to allow servers ops to add backup download for mods. See ns2\utils\workshopbackup\readme.txt for details.
Added support for servers to point clients to a list of backup servers and clients to download from backup instead of Steam
Backup servers also solves the problem of the server running an old version of a mod
Fixed bug that required all http request to finish inside 15 seconds
Made clients more stubborn when it comes to requesting downloading mods (10 retries)
Improved progress reporting

PerformanceRelevance calculation offloaded from main server thread, freeing up about 5-15% main thread CPU. It is now recommended to run the server on at least 2 cores.
Servers running close to the edge will now show up as Loaded in the performance browser

Known IssueThe progress indication on mod download is broken – it stays zero until download complete. Late build blocker forced a revert, should be fixed in 274

This is the raw changelog. Be sure to head over to the NS2 blog for more information about the update!

SeasonalThe main menu is now festive!
All ready rooms have also got into the spirit of the season! (except tram :( not sure what happened)
Snowballs!

ImprovementsNS2 servers now also show up in the steam server list.
Minimal infestation is now more visually representative of the range it should be, Improved how minimal infestation looks.
You can now swap alien upgrades without first deselecting the previous one (it will do so automatically)
Added new option to the sound page to let sounds continue to play while the game is minimized
Meds, ammo, and catpacks can now be picked up from any height difference
Made the scoreboard usable at low resolutions no matter the player count. The teams will be displayed vertically in low resolution and you are able to scroll through the scoreboard with the slider on the right side, or pressing Home/End, Page Up/Down, or using your mouse wheel.
The scoreboard now displays the Commander background as yellow. This makes it easier to identify rookie commanders as their name will still display green even while commanding.
Changed to only allow reset game votes in the first 3 minutes of a game to discourage using it as an alternative to concede
Changed to allow conceding after 7 minutes instead of 10, and made it easier for mods to override
The taskbar icon will flash when alt+tabbed when a game is starting or when it is time to pick a team (after map loads or after the previous game ends)
Previous turns logfiles now saved as .old.txt on game start
Output from p_logall now goes to the same directory as logs
If steam is down, servers and clients will use already downloaded mods – if the client has the same version of a mod as the server, the client will be able to connect and play even when steam is down.
Added customization menu to the main menu
Added “Acknowledged” voiceover
Combined “Let’s Move” voiceover with “Follow Me”
The background of the commander button in the voiceover menu will scale to the commander’s name
Pressing movement modifier key while commander will now toggle a movement override while press that allows the WASD keys (or whatever they are mapped to) to be used to move the camera (like arrow keys do)
Faster grenade sprinting animation
Made Babbler eggs highlighted in Alien vision
Updated dkjson, so you can now use advanced json syntax in json config files (e.g. javascript comments)
Resource loading can be configured. May increase loading speed for SSD users (sorry, will only slow down HDD users).

FixesFixed issues with dropping catpacks on exos not feeling as responsive as dropping stuff for marines
Fixed server crash related to picking up a jetpack and weapon at the same time
Fixed kill feed being obscured by the death screen fade to black
Fixed voting to concede with only one player on the team requiring more votes than there were players
Fixed sound explosion caused by being alt+tabbed for a while and then coming back into the game
Fixed echoing harvesters into locations with multiple resource nozzles not always working
net_blackout now requires cheats
Fixed linux client crash when shooting a shotgun (thanks CERIBIK)
Fixed child entity positions when placed in an a non-moving parent entity.
Fixed that some attacks would be silenced for aliens with phantom even though no veils were built
Fixed that a single catpack could be used by multiple marines
Fixed alignment of server entry names
Fixed artifacts on the Exo and Jetpack textures caused by the marine outlines
Fixed mapper placed team-related props being highlighted in Alien vision.
Fixed fans having decals projected onto them

Performance(Thanks to Wooza/ATFhome for running some test code)
Server now spreads out player updates better, avoiding updating them all at once (source of late joining player getting extra lag)
Server now uses more threads to compute network updates to avoid blocking main thread
Server now uses a faster way of calculating what entities should be sent to each client
LuaJIT will dynamically adjust parameters to avoid resets in the middle of the game (a reset means that the game runs without LuaJIT for a little bit while it recompiles, which could cause a hitch and is now avoided)
Server no longer runs updates for tunnels with no players in them
Fixed relevancy for tunnel contents; don’t send contents of all tunnels to all players
Client no longer runs updates for all props in all tunnels all the time – it no longer knows they exist unless the player is actually inside a tunnel
Client: skip setting bones for entities not in FOV, except for dynamic props if shadows are on (cause otherwise the shadow of a fan stops rotating when you are not looking at the fan).
Significantly improved performance of the marine colored outlines by removing several render cameras and optimizing the shader
Improved performance of alien parasite outlines by optimizing the shader
Reduced amount of http-requests used to get player data from the hive

SDKAdded Client.WindowNeedsAttention() which will cause the taskbar icon to flash when called if the user is alt+tabbed
Improved performance of Editor
Added circle entity indicators for ARC range, IP attach range, and relevancy range in the editor to more easily visualize the the game relevant ranges from within Editor
Added console command removeoption to remove the specified option from your config.
e.g. “removeoption graphics/infestationQuality”
Added BaseModelMixin:GetIsHighlightEnabled() to specify if an entity should be highlighted in alien vision
Fixed collision on biodome_outdoor_rock_03
Fixed path issues with some files
New global function GetHiveDataBySteamId( int steamid ) to get hive data for the given users

Maps

KodiakHangar Bay performance has been improved
Altered vent route from Hangar to Observation to make it easier to traverse
Added new rock formation near Falls RT to help marines get to the “top” level of the rocks
Added occlusion geo to the ice pillar in water production to improve FPS
fixed .model. error in water production (had been causing fps drops)

EclipseMoved Access Alpha RT to the top of the ramp
Closed off Conduit exit vent (it still is open from Generator Monitors to Power Sub Junction)
Improved Occlusion geo in Access Alpha in order to improve FPS

MineshaftFixed missing wall in Cart Tunnel

RefineryThe vent in Containment has been changed to not overlook the room to prevent gorges from spit-harassing Command Chairs
Fixed stuck spot in Turbine
Lava under the walkway has been changed to a very high DoT instead of an instant death trigger

TramPower node in Mezzanine is now connected to the wall
It should no longer be possible to hide cysts under the tram in Repair Room

We’ve completely lost our marbles, and are offering a new ‘Natural Selection 2 Mega Pack’ for 90% off. This pack includes NS2 Deluxe Edition, all DLC items, & NS2: Combat by Faultline Games for the low low price of… I’m going to stop right there before I start sounding like a stereotype.

**PATCH NOTE** WE HAVE UPDATED SOME SHADERS, THIS WILL MAKE YOUR INITIAL LOAD TIME FOR EACH MAP MUCH LONGER THAN NORMAL

FIXES
Fixed players having voice communication cut off while entering or exiting commander mode
Lerks will no longer grunt when moving at low speed
Bots will not be counted towards the number of players that are required to pass a vote
Fixed an issue which would result in a second IP being spawned at the start of the game with less than nine players
Fixed conflicting default key-bind between the show map key and the 10th commander grid spot (this will only affect new players, current players need to change their bindings manually)
Fixed fullscreen windowed mode to not minimize when alt+tabbing on Windows
If you have something bound to the same key as VoteYes/VoteNo, it will no longer be triggered when casting a vote
Fixed that it was possible to transfer pres between rounds
Fixed occasional error when attempting to enter the Mods menu
Fixed Commander bindings menu not saving cleared binds
Fixed server crash that could be caused by exos in the readyroom
Fixed small visual glitch while in exo that was causing nameplate borders to show up when they shouldn’t be
Fixed customize menu to ensure the variants always show in the proper order
Fixed customize menu to only show arrows when appropriate
Fix marines losing the parasite outline when switching variants / sex
Fixed Clogs having decals projected onto them

IMPROVEMENTS
In the voice request menu you can now select items by moving the mouse past them (similar to NS1)
Added an option in the sound tab to continue recording after the microphone button has been released for a fraction of a second to help ensure your last word isn’t cut off (defaults to 150ms)
The number of players connecting to the server will now be shown on the scoreboard
Building range circles now use decals instead of models
Votes that cannot pass anymore fail immediately
Made Fade and Onos view models not highlighted in Alien vision
Babbler eggs are now highlighted in Alien vision

SDK
Added Server.GetNumPlayersTotal() which will return the number of players that have an active connection to the server, regardless of if they have passed authentication and are finished loading yet
Allow materials to specify a 0.5 highlight value to not be highlighted in Alien vision and not have decals projected onto them

BALANCE
Raised mature tunnel health by 10% to give aliens a little bit longer to respond to a tunnel that is under attack, and raised its maturity time by 15 seconds to compensate

ENGINE
Upgraded Awesomium library to version 1.7
Upgraded LuaJIT to version 2.0.3

Fear is coming: The Reaper Alien Skin Pack transforms Natural Selection 2’s alien lifeforms into a new, terrifying form. Pale like death’s horse and bones as black as death itself cut through the light and bring darkness to those who oppose. Only the bravest marines stand against these vicious, mutated Kharaa!

The Community Development Team (CDT) announces more customization to NS2 with the release of the REAPER alien skin pack! In the pack you get five new Alien Skins, one for each of the Alien Classes and a special REAPER Shoulder Pad for marine players. Halloween is the best time to dress up in ghoulish costume, now you can wear your REAPER outfit in NS2 to suit your own devilish deeds.